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This device is known as a "Mobile phone". That means that it is a phone that you can take almost (I wouldn't take it swimming) anywhere. With this phone, you can enter in numbers and press the green "call" button. The number you entered is the number of another phone (not necessarily another mobile phone though). The other phone then rings (once a connection has been established, which may take some time, so be patient) letting the person you want to contact know that someone is phoning them (as long as that phone is not currently in use. They would then pick up their phone (or press a button if it is a mobile phone) and say something like "Hello". You would then say "Hello" back and thus the conversation is started. Remember, all the while, you are being charged for this! More on this later. Once you have come to the end of your conversation, say you would say something like "Thanks, I didn't hear everything you said as there were some odd noises on the line, but what I did hear sounded ok, even though there was a bit of an echo too. See you tomorrow. Bye!". You would then press the red "hang up" button. For those of you who are red/green colour blind, the green button is the one on the left that looks like a little handset and the red button is the one on the right that also looks like a handset, but has a circle with a line in it below it. Text messaging… Also with this phone you can use a service called "SMS", which lets you send text messages to other mobile phone users. One very nice feature of this particular phone is that you can set it up to send a note to say when the text message you have sent arrives at the phone you sent it to. This helps you know if it got through or not. If someone sends you a text message, the phone will bleep and but a notice on its screen. You then click the SMS button to go and read the text message. If t he message is longer than on screenful, press the right arrow on the circular navigation button to get to the next line and then press the down arrow. Select the Exit option to stop reading the text message. You can then reply to the message, read it again, delete it, send it to someone else or put the sender's number the phone book (you can also add numbers to the phone book directly). Payment… None of this comes for free though. I have this phone set up on a "pay as you go" model. That means that once my balance has run down to a certain amount, I will go to a shop (eg the Vodafone shop), give them a card they gave me once with my details on it, and say "hello, please add £X to this phone" (£X being the amount I want to pay. £5 or £25 for example). I then give that amount of money to the cashier and go on my merry way, knowing that the amount I just paid will be put on my phone soon. It might be useful to note here that if I don't then use the phone for about 180 days or so, I would be cut off and loose the money I spent but haven't used yet. What the site says… The official Trium Astral site says: "Trium's unique one-touch MOUSE makes it easy to select functions and phone numbers with a simple flick of your thumb" This is near enough true. Sometimes my thumb slips so I don't get the option I want, so watch out for that. "A long-lasting battery means that your phone is always ready for action." This is also true, up to a point. As long as you are not using the phone much, the battery will last a few days (then cut out just before you actually need to use it probably). "Whatever your mood, Astral can match it with changeable CLICK-ON faces that simply clip into place" I haven't tried changing the face on mine, so I can't comment on this. There is a "scrat chpad" in the office tools menu, where you can enter a few characters of information, which can be useful if you don't have some paper and a pen but have enough time to use the keypad to note something down. I would like there to be some indication on the main screen that there is something written in the scratchpad, as I often forget that I have entered something to do! This is a very basic phone compared to newer ones. It does not have any games to play (except "find the right menu option" and "try to unlock it" (that's another nice thing about the phone - you can "lock" the keypad so you don't accidentally start phoning people, then "unlock" it when you want to use the phone, which is a bit fiddly sometimes)). It also does not accept new ring tones (I'm happy with just a "ring ring", although it also comes with some classical/opera music and other tunes built in ) or logos. I got my phone duty free from the airport on the way back from holiday just before going to university. It has been useful to be able to keep in contact while out and about and it was especially useful on the day I went to try to find accommodation, as I was able to arrange to see houses without having to find a telephone box (a telephone box is a box with a telephone in that is located on a pavement or other public area, so that those still without mobile phones may still contact others by phone without having to go back to their home. There is also usually a charge for payphone usage.) I don't think I could have been without the phone on that day. If all you want to do is send and receive phone calls and text messages, then this might be a suitable choice. If you are out to impress anybody with you phone, this isn't the one to go for though. Thank you for reading my review.

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The trium first attracted me in a number of ways. 1. It looked different 2. It had pictures all over the menus 3. It worked - you can phone people with it! I'm still happy with the Trium, even today in the world of credit-card fones. Wouldn't you just lose them? There are a number of disadvantages to the Astral though. The size is quite inhibitive - it's a hefty size, but it's robust too. You can't change any of the pictures, and you can only have one of twelve in-built ringtones (you can't compose more!) It's harder to get parts (cases) because of the slightly uncommon nature of the fone It doesn't have WAP It has a poser ariel that's about it But You can fone people with it, and SMS works great It is indestructable (well, nearly) It's got pretty pictures As with everything, you get what you pay for - the Astral is a sensibly priced fone, and does what it was built for. Easy to use, good navigation and clear speech make the Astral a phone worth at least considering

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I bought this mobile phone in July last year. It was my first mobile and one I intended to keep for a while. I bought it to do the job, I was on a limited budget and wanted to simply be able to send and receive sms and calls. The package with a Vodafone all calls SIM card cost me £40 at the time but I'm not too sure how much it is now. On many platforms this mobile can be praised. It does everything it sets out to do. The screen is clear and easy to read, the menus are easily accessed and gotten round thanks to the navi-key function. The ringtones are non customisable and they are all of the same averagely bad mood. The sms message alert is very cool so this nearly makes up for it! The disadvantages though far outweigh this. The battery doesn't seem to last very long and there are no extra customisable bits (logos, ringtones etc). Games are non-existent and why you need an extendable aerial the length of the phone is beyond me seeming as it doesn't make your reception any better. The phones battery life got so bad I bought a Nokia 3310 in March - a mere 9 months after I bought the phone. It did the job but in the end I needed more than that. If you need a phone that you wont use very often and don’t want to spend much money then let me be the first to say, "welcome to your new mobile"

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"That Extendable Ariel"

What you are buying with this phone is a bottom of the range basic phone. All I want from a phone is that it let me make and recieve calls and text messages, and it stores my phone numbers. I think you'll find thats what we all want from a phone, but some people seem to demand so much more (but to me thats like insisting that I need a Mercedes to get my shopping back from Tesco when an old Escort would do). The handset isn't physically to big (4"x1"x3/4" approx.), okay so its not upto more recent handsets but it certainly isn't big. Possibly the worst thing apperance wise is that it has an extendable ariel, but you don't generally need to use it. The menu system is clear and easy to navigate as you have a D-pad control and two buttons on either side. This menu system has been descibed as differcult to use by other people but it is infact one of the easiet systems I've come across. The memory size seems reasonable. You can store 200 phone number (100 on the phone and 100 on the sim card) but this does seem to reduce the memory available to the SMS service. I've never run out of memory with SMS on this phone so it seems unlikely that most people will have a problem unless all you do all day is send text messages. The battery life isn't brilliantly long with it needing a recharge after 3-4 days even if I don't use it at all but you get probably nearly two hours of talk time so its not that bad, but this does depend on the individual battery (see below). The recharge time is fast with the phone charging in around 3hrs if it is switched off. Also I've had the battery fall out a couple of times in my pocket. Reception on this phone isn't the best and not quite upto the Nokias but usually it is good (but I live in a tiny blackspot, i.e our row of houses, in which you have to stand in various corners of the house in order to recieve anything). You only get a limited number o f ring tones, none of which are good but they're there to alert you to an incoming call, not for having a party to. Also there are no different graphics (so I'll be forever stuck with Vodafone staring at me) and no games (they're never stunning anyhow). I had a bit of trouble with my first one of these phone, as I was having to charge it every day even when I didn't use it at all. So I phoned Mitsubishi and they sent out a Jiffi bag with postage paid. I sent it back and after around a week I recieved a new version of the same phone, so I really can't fault their service. Also I've had no problem with the new phone yet. In conclusion I feel that this is a good basic no nonsense phone. Its easy to use and has everything you truly need from a mobile. When my phone went into be repaired I was using my sisters old Nokia, this I found extremely ackward and unfriendly (and bigger). So as soon as my phone was returned I went straight back to it, despite being able to keep the Nokia.

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"etc etc"

This was the first mobile phone I owned. I have recently purchased a 3310 as the Trium was getting abit boring and dated. I have recently seen the phone for what it is - not that good. At the time it seemed to me that as long as it did the job it'd do as I didn't think I'd use it that much anyway. However, as time went on I realised that it could be so much better. I was constantly borrowin a family members 3210 so decided to get a new phone. I now see that the Trium Astral did do the job but nothing more - and thats its main downfall. If u want a phone to use only very occasionally then this is the one as it is sturdy and reliable (and the message alert sound is cool) but if you think you'll need it for more frequent use then dont even think about it.

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I have been using this phone handset for nearly a year now and have to say it stands upto a lot of punishment. Although it does not some of features that general users of mobiles like to have such as a ringtone composer and other toys I find that this phone does its main job which is to communicate marvellously well but then again I am with Vodaphone which has very good area coverage. The concept of its interchangeable covers was a nice idea but it is so hard to actually find any to purchase I have stuck with the original. It is a very robust handset whilst having a reasonably comfortable weight when being carried in a pocket. The handset itself is user-friendly with its menu system easily navigable by a novice user. The scratchpad I find useful as I can write notes to myself and not worry about losing bits of paper. All in all I found this handset good value for money for the package I bought which was the Vodaphone Pay As You Talk at £39.99 Mark Ghazarian aka ‘Guz’

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What a phone, I can't belive i got it for the price i did, free, they should have at least paid me to take it. Not only is it ugly but it is simplistic. Reseption was c**p and the features s**t. The best feature it has is the currency converter and even that gave misleading results. If you want a phone for emergencies and no other use then fine, but not for everyday use, it just ain't worth it. A good phone is one which is reliable, small and attractive with decent feature, oh and good ring tones, all which the Astral lacks.

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I find this phone really crap!!!! It always just cuts out on me, the whole thing just freezes up and to fix it you have to take the battery out and put it back in again! The ring tones are the worst you could imagine, and you can't download different tunes for it. The phone book isn't very helpful either, you can't actually see people's numbers. On top of that I find prepay very expensive and not worth your while. I would never buy a trium phone again.

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I got this phone on the Vodafone Pay as You Go Offer about 6 months ago, and it is not a bad phone, just that there are so many better ones out there. The menu is very hard to work your way around, and there are so mnay ways in which you can exit yourself by mistake or even phone someone when the phone is locked- I managed to waste £5 phoning someone by accident because the keylock did not work properly. This phone has some alright features, but nothing special. There is no clock, no games to play on it and the missed call finction is very hard to get to terms with. The ring tone selection on this phone is simply shocking, and I always had it on silent!!! i quite like the way that the SMS function was on the main menu, so it was easily accessible, although the memory could hardly store any messages before it got full. Overall, I would say that Ericsson and Nokia phones are much better than Trium, but at the time they were much more expensive than this, although their quality is undoubted. I have made my mistake and will never by a Trium phone again!!!

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This is the first phone that I have got, so I would really say that it is good, but really, it is a great phone. As soon as I got it, I was going through the menu and inputting names into the phonebook with ease, and with no aid from a manual. It is small and lightweight which makes it easy to carry around with you. It isn’t a phone, which has games like a Nokia phone, but just because it doesn’t have games doesn’t make it a bad phone. You can purchase various front fascias for it, but they are quite hard to come by. The only place I have seen the covers, are in the Vodafone shop. Even in there they are £10.99, which is more expensive then some nokia 5110, or 3210 covers.

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I've had this phone for the past 8 months or so and I really don't like it. It may be simple to use but it's not very practicle. It dosen't have any quick access keys, it's heavier than phones the same size and some that are bigger. When the aerial is extended the phone is huge. You can change the cover for it but it costs about £20 for a cover and as of yet I haven't found a particulary exciting cover worth that amount of money. And it doesn't have a very long battery life. And when sending text messages it doesn't give you a little meter telling you how many characters you have left to use and it doesn't give you that many in the first place. You get a better phone for the same price.

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If only they were as good at designing cars as they are phones. Trium, the newly formed French company, have really hit the spot here. With handy functions like knowing when the recepient has received their SMS, this is a practical phone at a reasonable price. It's attractive design will make anyone want it and Trium's reputation for making some of the most ergonmic phones on the mmarket is not lost here. The only downside about this phone is that the build quality is not the most convincing I've ever experienced.

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well people I had never been a 21st century techie guy - I use PCs to surf the net and collect my mail. One day I was walking through the town centre not looking for nothing. It dawned on me that everyone had phones-I didn't care much for them anyhow. But I still went into the phone shop and was dumb struck by the sales patter and more importantly the mitsubishi trium astral phone Because the phone had a good blue colour to it, it has a flip on mine (nah , nah !) so to protect the keys and accidently dialling of numbers!?! But the best thing is the range of features that the phone has and the oh so pretty icons which relate to them. Also depending on the network operator-the phone gives very good signal capacity and is clear, loud and crisp. It's not a small phone, yes, but it still fits into a pocket without the feeling and weight of a house brick. And the best news of all is unlike the expensive 'cool-looking' phones...the looks just as good and is cheap, real cheap

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I got this phone just before christmas, having been desparate for a mobile, but not really knowing why. I got this phone for 49.99 in the vodafone store connected to the vodafone pay as you talk network. I like this phone but i do have problems trying to find other covers for the phone, because unlike the changeable covers nokia phones these covers are not widely available and not many people have these phones. For some little petty reason of mine the extendable aerial on the phone annoys me too for no reason, probably due to the fact that the only phones that had this is were phased out a while back and most phones aerials do not extend now, and i just do not like feeling different. Generally this phone is good, but it does not have many added features like ringtone composer or games, but overall it is of a good standard.

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The Trium was cheep...So we live in a relatively cheep world where phones are becoming less expensive. Still when I bought my Trium I was very disapointed because the battery life is so short, I am forever charging it up. The menu is hard to fathom and use. The only plus side that I can see is that it has given me a deep desire to ditch it and buy a decent mobile phone! Take some advice DON'T BUY IT save up a little more and really treat your self.